To say that his career has been wild would be an understatement. All the way back in 2010, the Edmonton Oilers selected Hall first overall, the first of three consecutive first overalls the Oilers had. It also happened to be the first of three consecutive weak drafts.

Hall has had a good career for himself, and in his 16th season, the winger will have a chance of winning it all. With that being said, let’s revisit the trade that saw Hall depart the Oilers in the summer of 2016.

Taylor Hall before the trade

Prior to being drafted first overall, Hall spent his junior days with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires. His first taste of winning came in 2008-09, as the Spitfires won the J. Ross Robertson Cup, then the Memorial Cup shortly after. He and the Spitfires went back-to-back for both trophies, leading the Oilers to pick Taylor over Tyler.

Hall’s early days as an Oiler were weird. In his rookie campaign, he scored 22 goals and 42 points in 65 games, finishing tied for second in points, one behind Jordan Eberle. It was a tough year, but Hall finished ninth in Calder Trophy voting.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins joined the crew the following season, with Hall posting a then career-best 27 goals and 53 points in 61 games. Again, the Oilers picked first in 2012, drafting Nail Yakupov. Nearly half the 2012-13 season was missed due to the lockout, but Hall finished above point-per-game for the first time in his career, scoring 16 goals and 50 points in 45 games.

His best season as an Oiler came in 2013-14, scoring 27 goals and 80 points in 75 games, which happened to be the third-most games he played in a season. Of course, the Oilers still missed the postseason, as they did the following year as well. Hall only played 53 games in 2014-15, scoring 14 goals and 38 points.

In his final season, Hall and a young Leon Draisaitl formed chemistry, with Hall potting 26 goals and 62 points in 82 games, the lone time he played a full season in blue and orange. With the Oilers drafting Connor McDavid first overall in 2015, the forward core was promising.

Bob McKenzie

@TSNBobMcKenzie

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Trade is one for one: Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall.

7:34 PM · Jun 29, 2016

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Much-needed context

The same cannot be said about their defence core, well, at least the right side. They had some solid left-shot defence options, Darnell Nurse became a regular, and despite missing more than half the season, Oscar Klefbom was heading in the right direction. That doesn’t even mention Andrej Sekera, who was the skilled veteran on the backend.

Then you look at their right-side at the time. Here’s a list of right-shot defencemen that played a game for the 2015-16 Oilers: Eric Gryba, Mark Fayne, Justin Schultz, and Adam Clendening. Schultz was traded before the 2016 trade deadline, so only Fayne and Gryba were under contract for the 2016-17 season. That’s important context for what came next, as the Oilers famously sent Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson.

The Hall for Larsson trade is widely regarded as a dud for the Oilers, even at the time, but I don’t believe that to be the case. Instead, their issue lies in how they handled their right-shot defenceman group in the two years proceeding the one-for-one trade. Just months before the Hall trade, the Oilers traded Justin Schultz, and a year before that, they traded Jeff Petry.

It’s often said that good right-shot defencemen are hard to come by, and both Schultz and Petry were good defencemen. The ensuing trades weren’t bad, with the Oilers finding a way to get Cam Talbot, Caleb Jones, Duncan Keith, and even Jake Walman in the following trade trees. But it left them with, again, Eric Gryba, as their top right-shot defenceman.

Even with Larsson, the Oilers relied on Sekera, a left-shot defenceman, to play on the right side in 2016-17. He excelled at it, but imagine if they had kept Hall while having a core of Klefbom, Nurse, Sekera, Petry, and Schultz.

Hall’s post-Oilers days

This trade was widely considered bad for the Oilers the second it happened, as it was perceived that the Oilers could’ve got more value for Hall. And there’s some truth in that. To make matters worse, the Devils finished with the fifth-fewest points, but jumped up to the first overall pick. It would’ve been nice had it been the Oilers’ first overall pick.

Hall’s first season as a Devil was a solid one, scoring 20 goals and 53 points in 72 games. But nothing compares to his 2017-18 season, scoring a career-high 39 goals and 93 points in 76 games, helping the Devils make the postseason and winning the Hart Memorial Trophy.

When people say the Hall for Larsson trade is bad, this fact is often pointed too. But as Hall’s career has continued, it’s clear that it was just an anomaly. While productive in 2018-19, Hall played just 33 games, scoring 11 goals and 37 points. After 30 games with six goals and 25 points in 2019-20, Hall was shipped to the Arizona Coyotes.

In the remaining 35 games he played, Hall scored 10 goals and 27 points, with two goals and six points in nine playoff games. This trade kicked off the journeyman leg of his career, despite being in his prime years.

Hall signed with the Buffalo Sabres, but played just 37 games with two goals and 19 points before being shipped to the Boston Bruins. He spent the remainder of the 2020-21 season in Massachusetts, as well as the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons with the Original Six team. There, he scored 20 goals and 61 points in 82 games during the 2021-22 season, his best season away from the Oilers and Devils.

Eventually, Hall was traded to another Original Six team, the Chicago Blackhawks, to free up some cap space. However, he played just 10 games in 2023-24 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. After 46 games with the Blackhawks in 2024-25, Hall was involved in the first Mikko Rantanen trade of 2024-25, with Hall joining the Hurricanes.

He’s been there ever since, scoring nine goals and 18 points in 31 games to end the 2024-25 season, then scoring two goals and six points in 15 playoff games. This season, he’s had his best season since 2021-22, potting 18 goals and 48 points in 80 regular-season games.

He’s been the Hurricanes’ MVP in the playoffs thus far, scoring five goals and a team-leading 16 points in just 13 games,. If they go on to win it all, and it’s a safe bet they do considering they have just one overtime loss, Hall has a legitimate chance of being named the Conn Smythe winner if he keeps up his current pace.

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Mar 6, 2020; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes left wing Taylor Hall (91) against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome.

But what about Larsson

The issue with this trade is that the Oilers probably could’ve gotten more for Hall. That said, Larsson was a much-needed piece. In 2016-17, the right-shot defenceman scored four goals and 19 points in 79 games, all while playing a great shutdown defence.

Every Oiler fan knows about the Decade of Darkness, and it realistically went on to the 2022 playoffs. There was a brief respite during this span, as the Oilers made the 2017 playoffs, and nearly made it to the Conference Finals. In 13 games, Larsson scored two goals and six points.

Unfortunately, that was the best Oilers’ season with Larsson on the team, missing the postseason in both 2018 and 2019, while winning just one of the eight games they played between the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. His best season in terms of points came in 2018-19, where Larsson scored three goals and 20 points, all while finishing as a -28.

An unrestricted free agent following the 2020-21 season, Larsson joined the Seattle Kraken, serving as their expansion selection from the Oilers. Larsson has missed just one game since joining the Kraken, scoring a career-high eight goals in his first two seasons, while also scoring a career-high 33 points in 2022-23.

But with Larsson, his value never lied in points. He was the prototypical second-pair shutdown defenceman, a role which he excelled in, and in fact still does. Larsson departing for the Kraken immediately left that role open, with the Oilers attempting to use Cody Ceci in it until he was eventually traded during the 2025 off-season.

Realistically, the Oilers didn’t have a Larsson-type player for this role until they acquired Connor Murphy from the Blackhawks at the 2026 trade deadline.

Can you call this trade good? No. But of all the trades Peter Chiarelli made, this wasn’t even close to the worst one.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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